System and method for arrhythmia discrimination
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- sensing a first signal representative of electrical activity at a first cardiac region, the first signal including a QRS-cardiac complex representative of a cardiac cycle sensed in the first cardiac region;
sensing a second signal representative of electrical activity at a second cardiac region, the second signal including the QRS-cardiac complex as sensed in the second cardiac region;
selecting a first feature of the first signal, where the first feature includes a first portion of the QRS-cardiac complex which is repeatably identifiable in subsequent QRS-cardiac complexes;
selecting a second feature of the second signal, where the second feature includes a second portion of the QRS-cardiac complex which is repeatably identifiable in subsequent QRS-cardiac complexes;
during a tachycardia episode, determining a time difference between the first feature and the second feature;
comparing the time difference to a template time difference, where the template time difference is determined from the time difference between the first feature and the second feature for a plurality QRS-cardiac complexes during normal sinus rhythm; and
if the time difference exceeds the template time difference value by a predetermined margin, characterizing the QRS-cardiac complex as a ventricular tachycardia complex.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a system and a method for discriminating supraventricular tachyarrhythmias from ventricular arrhythmias during a tachycardia episode. First cardiac signals and second cardiac signals are sampled for cardiac complexes. A first feature on the first cardiac signal and a second feature on the second cardiac signal are utilized to determine an average time difference for a plurality of normal sinus rhythm complexes. A time difference between the first feature and the second feature is then determined for each cardiac complex of a tachycardiac rhythm. The cardiac complex is characterized as a ventricular tachycardia complex if the time difference exceeds the average time difference by a predetermined amount. Otherwise, it is classified as VT if its morphology after alignment is different from that during normal sinus rhythm.
-
Citations
45 Claims
-
1. A method, comprising:
-
sensing a first signal representative of electrical activity at a first cardiac region, the first signal including a QRS-cardiac complex representative of a cardiac cycle sensed in the first cardiac region;
sensing a second signal representative of electrical activity at a second cardiac region, the second signal including the QRS-cardiac complex as sensed in the second cardiac region;
selecting a first feature of the first signal, where the first feature includes a first portion of the QRS-cardiac complex which is repeatably identifiable in subsequent QRS-cardiac complexes;
selecting a second feature of the second signal, where the second feature includes a second portion of the QRS-cardiac complex which is repeatably identifiable in subsequent QRS-cardiac complexes;
during a tachycardia episode, determining a time difference between the first feature and the second feature;
comparing the time difference to a template time difference, where the template time difference is determined from the time difference between the first feature and the second feature for a plurality QRS-cardiac complexes during normal sinus rhythm; and
if the time difference exceeds the template time difference value by a predetermined margin, characterizing the QRS-cardiac complex as a ventricular tachycardia complex. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method, comprising:
-
sensing a first signal representative of electrical activity at a first cardiac region, the first signal including a QRS-complex representative of a cardiac cycle sensed in the first cardiac region;
sensing a second signal representative of electrical activity at a second cardiac region, the second signal including the QRS-complex as sensed in the second cardiac region;
determining a first slope of the first signal;
determining a second slope of the second signal;
determining a representative slope for the first signal for a plurality of normal sinus rhythm complexes;
determining a representative slope for the second signal for the plurality of normal sinus rhythm complexes;
during a tachycardia episode, comparing the first slope for a QRS-cardiac complex to the representative slope for the first signal and comparing the second slope for the QRS-cardiac complex to the representative slope for the second signal; and
when the first slope is less than the representative slope for the first signal by a predetermined amount or the second slope is less than the representative slope for the second signal by the predetermined amount, characterizing the QRS-cardiac complex as a ventricular tachycardia complex. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
-
-
24. A method, comprising:
-
sampling a first signal representative of electrical activity at a first cardiac region;
sampling a second signal representative of electrical activity at a second cardiac region, where the first signal and the second signal are sensed using different cardiac sensing channels;
selecting a first feature of the first signal, where a selection criterion is used to identify the first feature;
selecting a second feature of the second signal, where the selection criterion is used to identify the second feature;
for a plurality of normal sinus rhythm complexes, determining a median signal amplitude for the first feature relative a baseline signal of the first signal, and a median signal amplitude for the second feature relative a baseline signal of the second signal;
during a tachycardia episode, determining a signal amplitude for the first feature relative the baseline signal of the first signal and the second feature relative the baseline signal of the second signal for a cardiac complex; and
when the signal amplitude for the first feature exceeds the median signal amplitude for the first feature by a predetermined amount or the signal amplitude of the second feature exceeds the median signal amplitude for the second feature by the predetermined amount, characterizing the cardiac complex as a ventricular tachycardia complex.
-
-
29. A system, comprising:
-
at least one catheter;
a sensing system attached to the at least one catheter; and
a control system attached to the sensing system, where the control system monitors a first signal and a second signal for cardiac complexes;
a morphology analyzer circuit coupled to the control system, where the morphology analyzer circuit locates a first feature on the first signal and a second feature on the second signal;
a signal feature comparison circuit coupled to the morphology analyzer circuit, where the signal feature comparison circuit determines a time difference between the first feature and the second feature on a tachycardia complex and compares the time difference to a template time difference determined from the time difference between the first feature and the second feature for a plurality of cardiac complexes sensed during normal sinus rhythm; and
where the control system designates the tachycardiac complex as a ventricular tachycardia complex when the time difference exceeds the template time difference by a predetermined margin.
-
Specification